As people may or may not know but Friday Pat Burns passed away at age 58 and he was a hockey coach that was great when he started with a team and do very good but would not last long.
Pat Burns was a real battler off the ice as he battled colon cancer in 2004 and survived and Liver cancer in 2005 and also survived that. He coached the QMJHL Hull Olympiques from 1984 to 1987 and the Sherbrooke Canadiens of the American Hockey League for the 1987–1988 season and was a Montreal police officer before he became a future hall of fame coach.
He started with the Montreal Canadiens in 1989 and helped them go to the Stanley Cup and won 51 games and 115 points along with winning the coach of the year award but lost and then he coached them for 3 more seasons and lost in the second round in all three seasons. Then he went to coach the Toronto Maple Leafs for the 1992-93 season and for the next 3 + seasons where the Maple Leafs went to the Western Conference Finals the first 2 years and the first year was the closest the Leafs have been to the Stantley Cup Finals since 1967. This is when the Leafs went into overtime aganist the LA Kings in game 6 and if the Leafs had scored they would have gone to the Stanley Cup Final aganist the Montreal Canadiens but the Kings won and Wayne Gretzky high sticked Doug Gilmour with no call and then they come home and lost to the Kings in game 7. Then in the 95-96 season he was fired and after a year away from hockey he coached the Bruins for the 1997-98 season and for the next 3 + seasons where they made the playoffs the first 2 seasons with 91 points both seasons but lost in the first and second round respectably before not making the playoffs and then getting fired 8 games into the 00-01 season. Then after another year away he coached the New Jersey Devils in the 2002-03 season and for the 2 seasons to end his NHL coaching career and in his stint with the Devils he had 46 and 43 wins respecably and over a 100 points both seasons and won his only Stanley Cup ring in year one at the the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals.
He ended his coaching career with a very good 501 wins and 151 ties in 1019 games with only 353 losses and 14 other overtime loses and had a 578 winning % and the 2003 Stantley Cup and will be in the hockey hall of fame one day but sadly will not get to enjoy the moment in person.
Thank for reading
Tom Mehegan
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